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What is "tongue"

Crossword clues for tongue

tongue
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
tongue
I.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
click your tongue (=make a short sound with your tongue to show disapproval)
▪ She clicked her tongue in annoyance.
mother tongue
▪ children for whom English is not their mother tongue
sb has a sharp tongue (=they speak in a very disapproving way which often upsets people)
stick...tongue out
▪ Don’t stick your tongue out. It’s rude!
tongue and groove
▪ tongue and groove floorboards
tongue depressor
tongue twister
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
long
▪ The chameleon will then dart out its long, sticky-tipped tongue, impale the insect and swallow it.
▪ A long tongue came out of the lamb's mouth as it licked its lips.
▪ Her skin is blue-black, she has a long red tongue, and snakes twine about her body.
▪ The wolf walked round and round the bushes, with his angry yellow eyes and his long black tongue.
▪ Flickers use this amazingly long tongue to feed on ants.
▪ His/her long muscular tongue lashed and probed the air like a sense organ as if to supplement his/her tiny shrunken eyes.
native
▪ An assistant began waving his arms and talking to the dealer noisily in his native tongue.
▪ At first it seems the girls are singing in their native tongue.
▪ The words, in his native tongue, were few and easy to learn.
▪ But for most of us our native tongue is alive and constantly shifting.
▪ It was weird, because it sure sounded like my native tongue.
▪ It is perfectly possible to communicate with little or no such similarity or else children would never learn their native tongue.
pink
▪ A vast pink tongue was hanging out of the creature's mouth between a pair of the longest, sharpest teeth imaginable.
▪ As he got closer I could hear his breathing as well, and I saw his pink tongue sweep across his lips.
▪ As they get older, the puppies can expect to see their pink tongues turn a distinctive bluey black colour.
▪ A pink tongue darted uncertainly over his lips and he swallowed hard.
sharp
▪ Only that you have a sharp tongue and an undisciplined sister, neither of which attributes I find endearing.
▪ Oh, she has the sharpest tongue!
▪ She was still slightly in awe of Violette, her worldliness, her sharp tongue.
▪ How I try to punish my parents with my sharp tongue.
▪ They opened their mouths to show her sharp tongues and teeth, ready to bite, gobble her up.
▪ There was a sharp little tongue under all that glamour.
▪ If Toyah cuts that easily she'd better watch herself on Linda's sharp tongue.
▪ Nobody but nobody commented on Maggie's shapely form - not unless they wanted acid dripping on them from that sharp tongue.
silver
▪ Ruth thought it more likely that his silver tongue had got around her.
▪ A man with a silver tongue like you should be out making a million dollars for himself, like my son.
▪ But unlike Douglass he had no oratorical gift, no passionate language, no silver tongue.
■ VERB
bite
▪ Polly battled on, practically biting her tongue in half.
▪ He could have bitten his tongue off the moment he said them, but it was already too late.
▪ Tell them to bite their tongues.
▪ Burun clenched his fists and bit his tongue to stop himself from shouting out.
▪ Ivan Yerineev was thrown to the ground and bit off his tongue.
▪ But they want a pink one, so Ralph takes out a pink one, bites his tongue.
▪ Always ready to knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder, bite my tongue, cross my fingers.
click
▪ The clock clicks its tongue ... trial and error.
▪ Kha Yang clicked his tongue then.
▪ He clicked his tongue, the cob plodded resolutely forward and so did I. And it was easy!
▪ Young women came and joined in, everyone popping fingers on cheeks and clicking tongues.
▪ I sigh and click my tongue at these, of course.
▪ There was a human quality, too, to the noise, as if several women were clicking their tongues at great speed.
▪ Church speculated with a long-range squirt, clicking his tongue in self-reproach as he did.
cut
▪ They cut out their tongues and on the seventeenth day they all died.
▪ He seized her and cut out her tongue.
▪ After a day of torture, when they wanted to get some sleep, they would cut the prisoners' tongues out.
fork
▪ Her head appears, piercing eyes and forked tongue.
▪ Lifting up its small triangular head, the viper licked the air as if to write some-thing with its forked tongue.
▪ All the buildings shook, and at the same time a forked tongue of flame burst upward through the cloud.
hold
▪ Out of sheer curiosity I held my tongue, and waited.
▪ Those who hold that tongue speaking is the defining characteristic of pentecostalism insist on the Topeka advent.
▪ You have to avoid being Nellie-know-all and hold your tongue to allow a younger generation to enjoy the fun of discovery.
▪ This hypothesis holds that giant tongues of material were torn from the preexisting Sun by the gravitational attraction ofa passing star.
▪ Some shoes now boast a split tongue or an elasticated band which holds the tongue in place.
▪ Chastised, Elder Brother held his tongue, turning to look at Jinju as if to seek her support.
▪ Learn to hold your tongue, Mistress Philippa, else grief will come of it.
▪ Jim was struggling to hold his tongue when Carole knocked on his door and walked in.
loosen
▪ A few coppers would be enough to loosen her tongue.
▪ Zeal for a cause dissolved his timidity and loosened his tongue.
roll
▪ This committee compromise is unlikely to roll off anyone's tongue.
▪ Answers rolled off her tongue with well. oiled ease.
▪ Most have spent all their sentient life as paid-up devotees, and the glib phrases soon roll off the tongue.
▪ She took a swig and rolled it around her tongue like mouthwash.
run
▪ There in the dawn he grasped the envelope and ran his tongue across its darkly luminous cuff.
▪ He ran his tongue down her neck.
▪ Blanche nodded slowly and ran her tongue over her lips.
▪ Dunne rolled another cigarette, running his tongue slowly along the glued edge of the brown paper.
▪ The room revolved round her and she ran her tongue over suddenly dry lips.
▪ That slate face cracked pink, ran a tongue the color of strawberry ice cream over the lips.
▪ With excruciating slowness and delicacy he sucked it before running his tongue in the space between the last two toes.
▪ I ran my tongue over its rough surface and felt its salty effervescence.
speak
▪ And, for the first time in eighteen years, she spoke in tongues.
▪ They speak with other tongues, which is embarrassing and distasteful to many non-members of the Pentecostal scene.
▪ Nor did he invent that particularly intense expression of yearning called speaking in tongues.
▪ He seems transformed, as though he is speaking in tongues.
▪ The first time I ever heard anyone speak in tongues I found it strange, fascinating, and a little frightening.
stick
▪ Stuart sighed and Linda Paterson stuck out her tongue at him.
▪ Mitchell turned around lust in time to see her stick her tongue out at him.
▪ With her eyes still crossed, she stuck her tongue out and tried to curl it upwards.
▪ He told him to stick out his tongue and held his hand.
▪ She stuck out her tongue. ` Anyway, emergency medicine is great stuff.
▪ If children on the programme stick their tongues out, we don't condemn it.
▪ Like a child sticking out its tongue, they seemed to be saying, I know something you don't know.
▪ As I watched it soar over the crossbar,.Jamir stuck his tongue out in ridicule and blew a raspberry.
trip
▪ Names trip off his tongue with an ease bred through familiarity.
▪ A name which trips off the tongue.
▪ For a nasty moment I thought she'd tripped over her tongue and hurt herself.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
bite your tongue
▪ I'm just biting my tongue for now. If she wants to ask my advice, she can.
▪ I had to bite my tongue to stop myself telling Neil exactly what I thought of his stupid plan.
▪ She's so temperamental that even if you disagree with her it's better to bite your tongue and say nothing.
▪ When he said he was the best on the team, I just bit my tongue.
▪ Always ready to knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder, bite my tongue, cross my fingers.
▪ But they want a pink one, so Ralph takes out a pink one, bites his tongue.
▪ He's not and would be wise to bite his tongue.
▪ It's all very well telling some one to bite their tongue and not fight back.
▪ Polly battled on, practically biting her tongue in half.
▪ Tell them to bite their tongues.
▪ Whatever the reason, Dauntless bit his tongue and resolved to put up with Cleo Sinister.
hold your tongue
▪ Chastised, Elder Brother held his tongue, turning to look at Jinju as if to seek her support.
▪ If he was a count he would be doubly arrogant and she would not be able to hold her tongue.
▪ Jim was struggling to hold his tongue when Carole knocked on his door and walked in.
▪ Learn to hold your tongue, Mistress Philippa, else grief will come of it.
▪ Out of sheer curiosity I held my tongue, and waited.
▪ She tried to talk him into letting her go, but he ordered her sharply to hold her tongue.
▪ Stella was forced to hold her tongue when Dotty or Babs Osborne spoke slightingly of Meredith.
▪ You have to avoid being Nellie-know-all and hold your tongue to allow a younger generation to enjoy the fun of discovery.
loosen sb's tongue
▪ The wine loosened his tongue.
native language/tongue
▪ English is not his native language.
▪ And as they learn their native language, they also use language to learn other things.
▪ But dialect features are not errors in this sense at all, but are characteristics of a pupil's native language.
▪ But for most of us our native tongue is alive and constantly shifting.
▪ It is perfectly possible to communicate with little or no such similarity or else children would never learn their native tongue.
▪ Some of the early researchers took a pessimistic view of what we would lose with the disappearance of native languages.
on the tip of your tongue
put your tongue out
▪ Donaldson fought the urge to put his tongue out.
▪ I put my tongue out at them as far as it would go.
slip of the tongue/pen
▪ He had made an unfortunate slip of the tongue himself.
▪ In all the excitement the Registrar, Mrs Molly Croll, suffered a slip of the pen.
▪ Much of the humour derives from slips of the tongue, an occupational hazard.
▪ One slip of the tongue would have betrayed all I was working for.
▪ They both use the same root consonants, which are rearranged as in a dream or a slip of the tongue.
trip off the tongue
▪ His name, "Roberto Carlos," just trips off the tongue.
▪ A name which trips off the tongue.
your tongue runs away with you
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Russian is not a tongue I speak.
▪ The computer, for disabled people, is operated using your tongue.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Always soft and fuzzed with pocket lint, they would sit on his tongue like dry bitter cotton.
▪ As soon as he saw the tongues, he knew.
▪ Her tongue turned black and choked her.
▪ She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue and his sudden tension told her she was right.
II.verb
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
native language/tongue
▪ English is not his native language.
▪ And as they learn their native language, they also use language to learn other things.
▪ But dialect features are not errors in this sense at all, but are characteristics of a pupil's native language.
▪ But for most of us our native tongue is alive and constantly shifting.
▪ It is perfectly possible to communicate with little or no such similarity or else children would never learn their native tongue.
▪ Some of the early researchers took a pessimistic view of what we would lose with the disappearance of native languages.
on the tip of your tongue
slip of the tongue/pen
▪ He had made an unfortunate slip of the tongue himself.
▪ In all the excitement the Registrar, Mrs Molly Croll, suffered a slip of the pen.
▪ Much of the humour derives from slips of the tongue, an occupational hazard.
▪ One slip of the tongue would have betrayed all I was working for.
▪ They both use the same root consonants, which are rearranged as in a dream or a slip of the tongue.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Her hair was rather wild, her tongue eloquent.
Related phrases:
The Collaborative International Dictionary
tongue

Radula \Rad"u*la\ (r[a^]d"[-u]*l[.a]), n.; pl. Radul[ae] (r[a^]d"[-u]*l[=e]). [L., a scraper, fr. radere to scrape.] (Zo["o]l.) The chitinous ribbon bearing the teeth of mollusks; -- called also lingual ribbon, and tongue. See Odontophore.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
tongue

Old English tunge "tongue, organ of speech; speech, a people's language," from Proto-Germanic *tungon (cognates: Old Saxon and Old Norse tunga, Old Frisian tunge, Middle Dutch tonghe, Dutch tong, Old High German zunga, German Zunge, Gothic tuggo), from PIE *dnghwa- (cognates: Latin lingua "tongue, speech, language," from Old Latin dingua; Old Irish tenge, Welsh tafod, Lithuanian liezuvis, Old Church Slavonic jezyku).\n

\nFor substitution of -o- for -u-, see come. The spelling of the ending of the word apparently is a 14c. attempt to indicate proper pronunciation, but the result is "neither etymological nor phonetic, and is only in a very small degree historical" [OED]. In the "knowledge of a foreign language" sense in the Pentecostal miracle, from 1520s. Tongue-tied is first recorded 1520s. To hold (one's) tongue "refrain from speaking" was in Old English. Johnson has tonguepad "A great talker."

tongue

"to touch with the tongue, lick," 1680s, from tongue (n.). Earlier as a verb it meant "drive out by order or reproach" (late 14c.). Related: Tongued; tonguing.

Wiktionary
tongue

alt. 1 The flexible muscular organ in the mouth that is used to move food around, for tasting and that is moved into various positions to modify the flow of air from the lungs in order to produce different sounds in speech. 2 Any similar organ, such as the lingual ribbon, or odontophore, of a mollusk; the proboscis of a moth or butterfly; or the lingua of an insect. 3 A language. 4 The power of articulate utterance; speech generally. 5 (context obsolete English) Discourse; fluency of speech or expression. 6 (context obsolete English) Honourable discourse; eulogy. 7 (context religion often in the plural English) glossolali

  1. 8 In a shoe, the flap of material that goes between the laces and the foot, so called because it resembles a tongue in the mouth. 9 Any large or long physical protrusion on an automotive or machine part or any other part that fits into a long groove on another part. 10 A projection, or slender appendage or fixture. 11 A long, narrow strip of land, projecting from the mainland into a sea or lake. 12 The pole of a vehicle; especially, the pole of an ox cart, to the end of which the oxen are yoked. 13 The clapper of a bell. 14 (context figuratively English) An individual point of flame from a fire. 15 A small sole (type of fish). 16 (context nautical English) A short piece of rope spliced into the upper part of standing backstays, etc.; also, the upper main piece of a mast composed of several pieces. 17 (context music English) A reed. n. 1 The flexible muscular organ in the mouth that is used to move food around, for tasting and that is moved into various positions to modify the flow of air from the lungs in order to produce different sounds in speech. 2 Any similar organ, such as the lingual ribbon, or odontophore, of a mollusk; the proboscis of a moth or butterfly; or the lingua of an insect. 3 A language. 4 The power of articulate utterance; speech generally. 5 (context obsolete English) Discourse; fluency of speech or expression. 6 (context obsolete English) Honourable discourse; eulogy. 7 (context religion often in the plural English) glossolalia. 8 In a shoe, the flap of material that goes between the laces and the foot, so called because it resembles a tongue in the mouth. 9 Any large or long physical protrusion on an automotive or machine part or any other part that fits into a long groove on another part. 10 A projection, or slender appendage or fixture. 11 A long, narrow strip of land, projecting from the mainland into a sea or lake. 12 The pole of a vehicle; especially, the pole of an ox cart, to the end of which the oxen are yoked. 13 The clapper of a bell. 14 (context figuratively English) An individual point of flame from a fire. 15 A small sole (type of fish). 16 (context nautical English) A short piece of rope spliced into the upper part of standing backstays, etc.; also, the upper main piece of a mast composed of several pieces. 17 (context music English) A reed. v

  2. 1 (context music ambitransitive English) On a wind instrument, to articulate a note by starting the air with a tap of the tongue, as though by speaking a 'd' or 't' sound (alveolar plosive). 2 (context slang English) To manipulate with the tongue, as in kissing or oral sex. 3 To protrude in relatively long, narrow sections. 4 To join by means of a tongue and groove. 5 (context intransitive obsolete English) To talk; to prate. 6 (context transitive obsolete English) To speak; to utter. 7 (context transitive obsolete English) To chide; to scold.

Related phrases:
WordNet
tongue

  1. v. articulate by tonguing, as when playing wind instruments

  2. lick or explore with the tongue

tongue

  1. n. a mobile mass of muscular tissue covered with mucous membrane and located in the oral cavity [syn: lingua, glossa, clapper]

  2. a human written or spoken language used by a community; opposed to e.g. a computer language [syn: natural language] [ant: artificial language]

  3. any long thin projection that is transient; "tongues of flame licked at the walls"; "rifles exploded quick knives of fire into the dark" [syn: knife]

  4. a manner of speaking; "he spoke with a thick tongue"; "she has a glib tongue"

  5. a narrow strip of land that juts out into the sea [syn: spit]

  6. the tongue of certain animals used as meat

  7. the flap of material under the laces of a shoe or boot

  8. metal striker that hangs inside a bell and makes a sound by hitting the side [syn: clapper]

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Tongue

The tongue is a muscular organ in the mouth of most vertebrates that manipulates food for mastication, and is used in the act of swallowing. It is of importance in the digestive system and is the primary organ of taste in the gustatory system. The tongue's upper surface (dorsum) is covered in taste buds housed in numerous lingual papillae. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, and is richly supplied with nerves and blood vessels. The tongue also serves as a natural means of cleaning the teeth. A major function of the tongue is the enabling of speech in humans and vocalization in other animals.

The human tongue is divided into two parts, an oral part at the front and a pharyngeal part at the back. The left and right sides are also separated along most of its length by a vertical section of fibrous tissue (the lingual septum) that results in a groove, the median sulcus on the tongue's surface.

There are two groups of muscles of the tongue. The four intrinsic muscles alter the shape of the tongue and are not attached to bone. The four paired extrinsic muscles change the position of the tongue and are anchored to bone.

Tongue (song)

"Tongue" is a song by R.E.M., released as the fifth and final single from their ninth studio album Monster. It was only released in the UK. In the song, lead singer Michael Stipe performs in falsetto; he has stated on several occasions that the narrator of the song is female. Stipe has also said the track is "all about cunnilingus."

On March 1, 1995, Bill Berry had to leave the stage during a performance of this song complaining of a serious headache. It in fact turned out to be a brain aneurysm, and is the likely reason for his leaving the band in October 1997. On subsequent dates Berry admitted that it gave him an eerie feeling every time the band performed "Tongue".

The single's video, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris and shot during the soundcheck prior to the band's June 20, 1995 performance at the Knickerbocker Arena in Albany, New York, shows a group of teenagers in a living room watching the band perform on TV. The version of the song that plays is slightly higher in tone than that of the album version. It was included as a bonus video on the DVD release of In View - The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003.

The three live songs that make up the CD single's B-sides were performed on Saturday Night Live in 1994.

Tongue (disambiguation)

Tongue most generally refers to the muscle on the floor of the mouth. By analogy or other figure of speech it can also refer to:

  • Part of a shoe that covers the foot underneath the laces
  • Part of a trailer tow hitch attachment
  • Any large or long physical protrusion on a machine part that fits into a groove or gland on another part
  • The striking implement suspended within a Bell (instrument), also known as a clapper.
  • Protrusive landform caused by the flow of ice (in a glacier) or lava
  • Language or speech, as in the phrase mother tongue
  • Tongue (Knights Hospitaller), one of the seven, later eight regional subgroupings, or langues of the Knights of Saint John
  • Tongue (foodstuff)
  • "Speaking in tongues", formally known as glossolalia, is the vocalizing of speech-like syllables, often as part of religious practice.
Related phrases:

Usage examples of "tongue".

He was almost convinced that reducing a tree to lumber expunged whatever might be abiding within when he saw the long, hooked tongue emerge from the wall behind the bed.

I just sat back on my heels and let her tongue lash over me, until at last it dawned on me that the old abo must have gone running to her and she thought we were responsible for scaring him out of what wits he had.

To his surprise, thirty years afterward, one of the teeth was removed from an abscess of the tongue.

Then calling on the name of Allah, he gave a last keen cunning sweep with the blade, and following that, the earth awfully quaked and groaned, as if speaking in the abysmal tongue the Mastery of the Event to all men.

Much useful comparative information was obtained during the following minute of suspended ecstasy, during which the female tongues parted into thousands of fine tentacles, exploring every accessible cavity of the male bodies.

Dragged by the scruff of the neck, Leif stared at the carnage wide-eyed as Acies whistled and shouted something in a strange tongue.

An acutely satiric man in an English circle, that does not resort to the fist for a reply to him, may almost satiate the excessive fury roused in his mind by an illogical people of a provocative prosperity, mainly tongueless or of leaden tongue above the pressure of their necessities, as he takes them to be.

Giles clucked his tongue as though admonishing a child caught stealing tarts.

Was the unfortunate aeronaut slowly bleeding to death, lying there amidst the bushes on that tongue of land?

Laa-queel had heard the afanc had learned to speak some human tongues and often lured sailors to their own deaths.

Laaqueel had heard the afanc had learned to speak some human tongues and often lured sailors to their own deaths.

All Aga had come back that same day with his tongue hanging out and had brought the news.

Ali Aga bit his tongue, turned with a shiver to the wall and made off.

Gwalchmai, while he wore the ring, could understand any language Merlin had known, this strange agglutinative tongue baffled him.

The herd paused for an instant at the edge of the slope, but Akela gave tongue in the full hunting yell, and they pitched over one after the other just as steamers shoot rapids, the sand and stones spurting up round them.